


That's My Girl

by amoonlitknight



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Light Dom/sub, Praise Kink, Wholesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:34:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24825376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amoonlitknight/pseuds/amoonlitknight
Summary: (Post-finale)It's happily ever after...sort of. Even if she's not destroying the world over it, Catra is Catra and when Catra upset, nobody in Castle Brightmoon happy. Well, Bow and Glimmer are fine, and Swifty's probably okay (even if he's not in this fic) but Adora's pretty upset that her developing romance and nascent sex life keeps getting interrupted by Feelings Stuff.So, what's a hero of the universe going to do about it? The thing she does best: think with her fists.[This is a reupload by the original author, some dumb stuff happened]
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 296





	That's My Girl

“Catra...maybe we _should_ talk about that night—”

She knew, as the words crossed her lips, that she'd made a huge mistake, although it did result in a pretty good view of Catra's butt as she turned on a balcony railing and leapt away into the darkness.

Gotta focus on the positives.

Adora sighed through a sad smile and fell backwards onto their messy, sweaty bed, automatically grabbing Catra's discarded undershirt and grabbing it fiercely. It still carried Catra's warmth, and thoughtlessly Adora brought it to cover her chest as her smile faded into a grimace of embarrassed frustration

Liberate the universe, end a thousand-year war, destroy an ancient superweapon...

Still working on saving the cat.

+

It was morning, and a pleasant one. But then, there were rarely unpleasant mornings in Brightmoon, especially these days.

That being said, the castle seemed a little lonelier than it had in the very recent past. It had been weeks now since...everything. The Princess Alliance had not disbanded, but you can only empty Brightmoon's cellars so much before you feel guilty about not going to your respective home and picking up the pieces. So, one by one (or, occasionally, in pairs both new and old) everyone had said their goodbyes and wandered towards various homes until, at long last, there were only two princesses kicking around, with a pair of tagalongs making themselves comfortable in what were quickly becoming not guest rooms at all. King Micah, too, had with great reluctance accompanied Castaspella back to Mystacor to help put right all the things he had been made to put wrong.

So for now, the Queen reigned, and her reign was a quiet and peaceful one at long last. Thus, the young heroes were determined to take full advantage for a little while, at least.

Breakfast was... _around_. Adora still wasn't tremendously comfortable with being able to walk downstairs and sit down and immediately be offered one of three different breakfasts the moment she sat at a table, but she made do by trying to at least go about it at the same time every morning. Wake up, move around a bit to get her limbs limber and her blood flowing, throw on a light dress over her shorts and top—well, that was new, but it was what it was and was comfy in the airy warmth of Brightmoon, okay? Stop hassling her about it—then come down and sit in the same chair where the same chamberlain was happy to pour her some water and politely offer her the same choice despite them both knowing she'd ask for a portion of everything on offer and scarf it all down as fast as she could. It beat the grey ration stuff from the Fright Zone all to pieces, although Catra had once idly observed that when she ate it at the same speed it was a wonder she tasted much of anything at all.  
  
Adora idly gnawed a particularly crusty piece of crusty bread and reminisced on this, the first time everyone had laughed, together, at one of Catra's snarky little digs. That had been good. It had helped. She'd even smiled a little bit once she thought nobody was looking, _really_ smiled.

She was doing that more and more. Not to sound sappy, but she was very pretty when she smiled, and Adora treasured it.

...then she'd notice Adora was watching and get mad, or say something rude, or stick out her tongue. She was still _Catra_.

Or, you know. Jump off and vanish in a huff. Again, normal, not at all incredibly frustrating Catra stuff.

Not for the first time Adora wished she were a little better at resolving her feelings without needing the universe to come a hair's breadth from annhilation. Bow and Glimmer, or Spinnerella, or even Perfuma might have some ideas about this latest situation, but for one reason or a dozen others Adora wasn't sure they'd want to get into the details.

That, and even Adora at her densest could see that the invasion of her privacy would not only make Catra _see_ red, but would further provoke her to _paint_ most of Castle Brightmoon red like she'd only ever imagined while with the Horde.

The bread was good and soggy now. Adora pulled it out and regarded it hopelessly.

That stupid night. It was so long ago now...and not long enough.

Adora _knew_ it was going to be a problem, but she just had to go there. Again. She'd call herself an idiot, but then she'd realize how badly she wanted Catra to do it for her, and smile, and kiss her, and—

And, well, and so on, and so on.

Suddenly embarrassed, she popped the now-disgustingly cool rind into her mouth and struggled to make it go down. It turned sideways, somehow, and refused to budge—just in time for Glimmer and Bow to round a corner into the room where Adora was desperately hacking up her lungs.

“Oh, hi AdoraaaaahhhHHHH!”

Adora waved her friends away wildly, trying desperately to make 'I'm fine, I'm fine' motions as she hacked and coughed, but the two of them piled into the room shrieking in alarm at seeing Adora choking. In the end Adora only successfully managed to keep Bow's terrified grasp at bay with a be-sandaled foot to his face. Glimmer went bright red.  
  
“Adora! You can't do that when you're wearing a dress!”  
  
“MmmM? Mmphh mmmph mmmm!” Adora managed between coughs and struggling with the two of them.

“I DON'T CARE IF YOU WEAR SHORTS UNDERNEATH, IT'S NOT LADYLIKE!”

Adora glared at her for a moment, then raised a finger and took a deep swig of water. The crust slipped down at last, and she coughed a couple more times. Glimmer was standing up on outraged tippy-toes, glaring at her, while a furiously blushing Bow looked anywhere else. She carefully and deliberately composed herself in the chair again, patting her dress back into place over, yes, a pair of shorts.

Having done this she turned to Glimmer with a hopeless shrug an expression which said, very clearly, 'who do you think you're talking to right now?'

“I think I finally get it,” Glimmer huffed. “You just, I don't know, save up all your grace and dignity and good manners and, I don't know—then _blam_ , let it all out at once. And that's what She-Ra is.”

A stray thought caught in her mind and Adora gave a dumb laugh. “Heheh. What, like a fart?”  
  
“No, not like a fart!”

“Whatever, Princess Mom, you said She-Ra's a fart so you're on the wrong side of this argument,” Adora said lazily, glancing to Bow, who was stifling a laugh. “What's got you all wound up this early in the morning, anyways? Need your wake-up tea?”

Glimmer sighed. “No—well, yes. Actually. But more importantly, how are _you_ so _calm_?”

“I'm not calm. I'm fighting an epic battle to save my throat from a loaf of bread. If only Horde Prime had thought of that, we'd have been in super duper serious trouble.” For emphasis, Adora mimed choking herself out and dropping the Sword, laying back and sighing tragically.

“Hilarious. Anyways,” Glimmer continued irritably, “we're worried about this!”  
  
She gestured, seriously, to the center of the table. There was a nice candlestick with a merrily burning candle in it, and the tablecloth was slightly ruffled, but that was about it.  
  
Adora peered at the empty space, then turned a bemused look back at Glimmer. “Uh...”

Bow stepped in behind Glimmer and gestured frantically somewhere in the vague locality of the candlestick—or was it a candelabra? Without a war going on, Adora was becoming more and more aware that she described objects as 'thingies' too much for polite conversation. But that was neither here nor there.

“Right here. Impossible to miss.” Bow's brow furrowed nervously. “Can you really not see...? Wow, okay, this is new.”  
  
“Guys, what are you—”

“MELOG!” they shouted in unison.

“Melog!?” Adora gasped, startled. She glanced warily back at the lightly-laden table. “Melog is—wait, are you serious?”  
  
Glimmer's palm was already on her way to her forehead. “ _Yes_ we're serious.”

Adora held the two of them, and their increasingly frustrated and stressed expressions, in a long, sly look.

She snorted out a laugh. “Nah, haha. You're messing with me.”

Behind Glimmer, Bow made a desperate face like ' _no, seriously, and Glimmer's not in the mood, please be good_ '.

Adora frowned and poked a finger forward thoughtfully and, indeed, there was a warm-ish tingly feeling she recognized as the presence of Catra's mysterious companion.  
  
“Heheh, crazy,” she said, wiggling her finger until she heard a low, melodious growl. “Wuh-oh.”

“Yeah I'd stop doing that, like, before you did it,” Bow said warily.

Adora withdrew her finger and as if materializing out of thin air, Melog appeared on the table, crouched warily and giving Adora a very nasty glare. Their eyes and luminous mane were still pale green and thus 'safe', but...well, they were Catra's pair-bonded beast after all. Now and the next second could have as much to do with each other as apples and a kick in the teeth.

A pang of loneliness stabbed Adora's heart. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed their goofy cat face. Another stab: she hadn't _noticed_ the absence—she'd been more than a little distracted.

“Hey, buddy,” Adora said, reaching out with a smile, but Melog just huffed and hopped down from the table, giving out a few irritated-sounding, sonorous _mrrows_ and vanishing into the corridor and out of sight.

Bow sighed, and gave Adora an uncomfortable look. “They've been following you for _days._ We assumed you were just sort of used to them by now, but last night—when we were playing cards—they were moving things around and you didn't even notice. We had to sit down this morning and figure out the last time we saw you touching them.”

Adora forced herself to brighten up. “Whoa, I didn't know they could do that! Hiding from just one person? That's amazing!”

She tried to keep a light, excited tone in her voice, but the elephant in the room had started making a lot of noise and was getting super hard to ignore.

Glimmer's face fell. “Adora...where's Catra?”

Adora looked away.

“None of the guards have seen her for days,” Bow said, firm but concerned. “We thought she was with you. Or just hanging around in your room like she does when she's stressed out."

“I think you already know she hasn't been doing that lately,” Adora admitted, a little miserably.

“How long has she been, er...”

“Missing? A few days now.”

She didn't say anything but Adora could tell Glimmer was having an internal struggle between concern and irritation. It looked like concern was winning for now. Bow was giving her a sharpish look, though.

“What?”  
  
“You lied to me,” he said, with exaggerated curtness. “I explicitly asked you to ask Catra if she wanted to play Tres and watch a holorecording last night and you said she didn't want to.”  
  
Adora frowned at him. “Based on how she's been hiding from me, I don't think it was a lie so much as a general fact of life.”

“What happened? Did you have a fight?” Glimmer asked.

Her voice was...off, somehow. It made Adora uneasy—there was a little suspicion in it, like a tiny bit of her was ready to hear Catra had run off to reform the Horde. Best that Catra wasn't here to hear it—she never took that tone well, and was always watching out for it.

“Something like that,” Adora said, intentionally vague.

“What was it about? Is she...do you think she left the castle?”

Based on Bow and Glimmer's reactions, Adora's grey mood probably showed on her face. So she answered the easier question. “No, she's...she's around. I can feel it. And if Melog was shadowing me, I can't imagine she's too far.”

“I suppose that's true,” Bow said, scratching his peach-fuzz proto-beard. “I've never seen them very far apart since, well, you know...the whole big battle with Prime.”

“And even then, she wasn't comfortable until she got them back,” Adora confirmed, nodding firmly. “But I can just...tell. She's around, and she doesn't want to be found. Back in the Fright Zone, sometimes she'd just decide to be missing for awhile and even I couldn't hunt her down. Especially when we got older. Shadow Weaver was the only one who always knew where we were—because, you know, magic, and not being a very nice person.”

Glimmer tapped her chin in a slightly exaggerated thoughtful way. “You know, I think she might have taught me a little something like that. I could—”

“I know you're joking. At least, I really hope you're joking,” Adora interrupted, feeling a bit of steel in her voice, “but that is not something we are going to joke about. _Especially_ around Catra.”

“Uh...sorry. Right.” Glimmer had the good courtesy to look embarrassed.

Bow put a hand each on Adora and Glimmer's shoulders. “Okay, let's maybe remember we're all friends here, hmm? We're not assuming anyone's doing anything to hurt anyone else on purpose. _Including_ Catra.” He shook his head. “Still a little weird to say. Just a little!”

Adora was suddenly vaguely aware of a conversation she hadn't been a part of. Just like she and Catra had their own private bonding, now that they had time, Bow and Glimmer were able to start sorting through what _they_ wanted as well. They didn't shut themselves away alone together quite as much as Catra and Adora did, but there was still...stuff going on, even when they were in a big group together. If she was honest, Adora didn't totally get it, so it was weirdly comforting to know they had a private chat without her. Felt more like what she would do.

Part of this awareness was the slightly guilty look Glimmer was giving him, and the slight pressure he was exerting on her shoulder.

“Glimmer, what's going on?” Adora asked.

Bow and Glimmer exchanged a look before Glimmer took a seat at the table next to Adora. Bow stood behind her, hand still gently gripping her shoulder.

“Adora, I...” she began, looking serious and a little sad. As her voice trailed off, she weaved her fingers together fretfully. “Look, Adora, I'm so glad you and Catra have been able to, uh...connect. Finally. I mean, the more I think about it, and look back on everything that's happened, the more it's like, _duh_!”  
  
She punctuated this attempt at levity and connection with a hollow little laugh.

Adora frowned. “But...?”

Bow's grip got just that teensiest bit tighter. It only showed because it made Glimmer's gossamer dress flutter just that tiniest little bit.

“But, well...come on, Adora, it's Catra,” Glimmer said. The words were obviously edited from something she had said earlier with slightly less tact. “We all know how she is. When things are good, they're _great_. Really. It's hard to be mad at her when things are okay. She can be funny, and smart, and when she's calm, she can even be kind of sweet. In her own special way, you know.”  
  
“Okay, okay, no need to tell me how great she is. I already know.”

Glimmer untwisted her fingers and reached out a hand to Adora, which she took thoughtlessly. Gimmer squeezed it gently and firmed her expression.

“It's just hard not to be scared of what might happen if she gets angry enough,” she said quietly. “Or if the two of you get into a fight, like, a _real_ one.”

Adora felt a flash of anger race across her mind. How _dare_ she—after a few _days_? One time, Catra vanished for a _week_!

“What are you trying to say?”

“I'm not trying to say _anything_ , Adora, I just want—I'm just scared, okay?”

Adora pulled her hand free. “Well don't be. She's fine. She's not like that anymore, Glimmer.”

“I think you mean she's _trying_ not to be like that anymore,” Bow said, sternly.

The unfamiliar harshness in his voice stirred Adora from her rising temper, which she only now realized had been really, really intense. The hand she'd had free was clenched hard in a defiant fist.

Okay. Breathe in, breathe out...

Glimmer and Bow watched Adora warily as she tried to let go of the frustration and outrage. It was just—she wasn't allowed to—they didn't understand—

No. They didn't.

“We love each other, Glimmer. I know it doesn't always look that way from the outside, but she really loves me. I know it. And I love her,” Adora said, as firmly as she could manage. There was something in her voice that wanted to whine, but she didn't want to let it. She sat up straight in the chair again and flexed some looseness back into her over-tense hands and shoulders.

Bow and Glimmer exchanged a glance.  
  
“That's just it, Adora. We believe you,” Bow said. “But love is really intense, for anyone. And Catra is even _more_ intense. Like, super intense. _Way_ too intense, to be honest. She tried to sacrifice herself to save your life like four times in a row, is what I mean by too intense.”

“That was before—”

“People don't just change, night and day, overnight. What she feels for you, what you two feel for each other, it's like nothing I've ever seen before,” Glimmer said, trying to sound soothing. “But it's so powerful, and so...much. And we've all had to deal with what happens when Catra feels _too much_ and things start not going the way she wants them to.”

Adora opened her mouth to object, but the words didn't come. Obviously.

“I'm not—I don't think she's going to attack us or blow up the world or anything,” Glimmer stammered.

Could they just stop bringing that up? It was only the—

Several...times.

Adora slumped in her chair, feeling a grey hollowness threaten to swell in her chest. “Again.”

Glimmer sat up in her chair, waving her arm wildly. “No, this! This is what I'm afraid of!”  
  
“Bad posture?”

“No! Obviously not! Rrrrrgh! Why are you like this?” Glimmer moaned.

“When Catra gets upset, and she acts out—even in little ways—it hurts _you._ Because you love her,” Bow said, smiling, as he massaged Glimmer's shoulder. “You know she's in pain and not dealing with it. And it hurts us to see how much that happens. Maybe we are past the big stuff these days, but that doesn't mean the little stuff doesn't matter.”

Adora stared at her friends for awhile while her guts did a bunch of really complex swirls and turns.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't supposed to be like this. In that moment, that wonderful, beautiful moment deep in the heart of the planet, it seemed like Catra would finally be alright and safe and happy, the way Adora desperately wished she could be. She just wanted...

She wanted...

Adora pinched the bridge of her nose. Oh, that stupid night.

It had been...

It had been too much, all at once, and not enough. The usual upsetting emotion stuff.

“Uuuughhhhh, why does she have to be so _frustrating_ ,” Adora growled for the ten thousandth and far from the last time, rubbing her wrists into her eyes to hide angry tears.

“Adora, you need to—” Glimmer began, but Bow cut her off.

“Adora _doesn't have to do anything_ ,” he said, in a recited sort of way. “But we're here to help her if she wants. Even if she just needs to talk it out.”  
  
He didn't mean it, Adora thought, way too late.

“Talking? _Talking_?! Would you just get it through your head that it's not something that can just be _talked out_! Not everything is that easy! I have to _do_ something, _fix_ it—”

Reality seeped back in.  
  
“Oh! Ow, oooh...” Adora hissed, wincing.  
  
She'd brought an angry fist down on her plate, shattering it. Blood flowed freely from some superficial slices dancing along the back of her hand and across her fingers.

Bow and Glimmer had recoiled in alarm.

Adora's heart suddenly pounded hard and she stood, raising her hands to show she wasn't angry anymore. “Oh, guys, I'm sorry—ow! Ow, oh, ahhh...”  
  
Bow stepped forward and held the forearm of her wounded hand straight as she sat back down. The three sat in uncomfortable silence as he held the edge of the tablecloth to soak up the bleeding, then bound them with a clean strip Glimmer ripped from the far side of the table.

Then they all sat again. The uncomfortable silence persisted.  
  
Adora felt about as dumb as she ever had. Glimmer looked scared and angry and sad all at the same time, and Bow was glancing from one young woman to the other, clearly upset but doing the usual Bow thing of taking care of everyone else first.

Maybe it was Adora coughing uncomfortably, but suddenly they all spoke at once.

“You can't just do _noth_ —”

“Talking is the only thing that—”

“I already tried to—”

They stopped, together, and smiled weakly.

“Go ahead,” Adora said, feeling like she had earned a lecture from one or both of them..

“No, you go—”

“You first—”

Glimmer and Bow gave each other an amused little grin before turning back to Adora and gesturing for her to speak.

Adora looked at her wounded hand for a moment. It was weird to see—she so rarely needed healing or wounds bound, but Bow was so good at it that it almost seemed a shame to not need his help. He'd so expertly wound it to keep her fingers still so she wouldn't re-open the wounds, and tight, but not so tight her fingers were going numb...

“I already tried to talk to her about...” Adora whispered, not daring to look up at them, “About...the problem. It's why she vanished. But she's around somewhere, trying to sort things out in her own head. I didn't need Melog to tell me that.”  
  
She glanced at the tiniest bit of red staining the bandage.

“We're both just wound too tight. I can't get it out of my head, and she's...scared.”  
  
Glimmer stirred in her chair. “Adora, did something...happen? Between the two of you?”  
  
“Not...exactly. It was a long time ago. A little while before I left—”

She paused, heart aching.

“Before I—before I found the sword,” she finished, a little more safely. “But I don't think you really want to hear too much detail about it, if you see what I mean.”

Glimmer, very tentatively, reached out a hand again. Adora placed her healthy hand in it, and they gave each other a shy smile.

A busy silence drew Glimmer and Adora's attention. Something seemed to be on Bow's mind.

“Oh, this is about—oh, oh man,” Bow stammered, blushing furiously. “This—this is about—”

Glimmer rolled her eyes. “ _Ob_ viously it's about, uh, uh, stammer, stammer, oh, I'm Bow, despite being a huge sexy hunk of man I'm still embarrassed to kiss my girlfriend in front of her dad.”

Bow grinned at the compliment, then frowned as the rest sank in. Glimmer gave him a suspiciously Catra-like grin.

“How's that been going, anyways?” Glimmer asked, as if it were about the weather. “I mean, I thought it _was_ going.”  
  
Adora shrugged. “Well, it is. And it's great. Like, super great, believe me. But there's just this...thing. I can't stop thinking about it. It's just something we need to work out. _I_ need to work out. But now she's gone, and...”

She hugged herself, gently.  
  
“I'm so stupid. It'll probably just turn out to be nothing and I'm just getting wound up and making Catra crazy.”

Glitter leaned in. “Are you sure you...can't tell us about it?”

“I mean, I could go, if you want, no problem—” Bow babbled, beet-red.

“It's not that I'm not comfortable with you—well...just, I mean, I think—”

Bow and Glimmer shared a leery look.  
  
“I mean... _I_ could go...?” Glimmer offered, although with the strong tonal implication that this would require a little explaining.

“No! Neither of you have to go! Ugh!” Adora growled, feeling more than a little put upon. “Just leave it, okay!? I barely want to talk about it with _Catra_ anymore! I just want her _back,_ so badly—”

She stopped.

Bow and Glimmer politely didn't say anything, although they were looking around thoughtfully.

“Oh, there it is, isn't it,” she growled, embarrassed. “Dammit.”

“You _have_ been a little irritable,” Bow said, giving the shattered plate a nervous look.

“I mean, that wasn't the plan exactly, and I didn't know exactly what was going on, but it works,” Glimmer observed. “I was expecting at least a few more days of badgering you about her.”

Adora slumped in her chair. The dress rode up a little in the back, which was probably unladylike as well, but this time Glimmer didn't object. “Things were going so well, I thought—I thought it was time. Now it's a problem, and it's—it's in the way.”

“In the way of...?” Bow said, as if to lead her on.

“In the way of her being here, physically, at this time,” Adora said, giving him a very suspicious eyebrow raise, “and our relationship, and our emotions, and a lot of other things that will make you want to burst into flame, mister shy boy.”

“Oh, right.”

Glimmer gave a forced smile. “Well, if she doesn't want to talk about it, what would you two do in the Fright Zone? You two must have been able to sort things out somehow—”

“I'm sorry, who are you, and did you not just live through the last, like, _three years_? Do you remember who you are talking to, and who we are talking about? No, we didn't have a way to _sort things out_ , come on. You're lucky she's not here, this is why she doesn't like being sat down to _talk things out._ Don't just say things to say things,” Adora said, a bit more harshly than she meant to. “I mean, _when it happened_ , she ran and hid for awhile, and then she came back, and we never talked about it. And then a couple months later...you know, She-Ra. Our whole _thing_ is that we never dealt with anything.”

_Even the good stuff._

Glimmer's fake smile faded, but only to make it more honest.  
  
“I mean, is whatever _this_ is, exactly _..._ good stuff?”

Adora sighed. She hadn't meant to say that out loud, but if there was anyone who could wind her up this much, it was Catra.  
  
“It was for me.” She thought about it some more. “Kinda.”

Bow covered his face, now flushing bright red, with the back of his hand. “Uh, not to get too personal, but what does _kinda_ mean, in this...uh...situation? Broadly speaking.”

“It means—”

Adora looked at him, and Glimmer giving him an amused but supportive look. And behind him, where murals and sculptures depicted a society of beauty and grace and serenity. Her thoughts strayed to Spinerella and Netossa, to his dads, to how easy it was for Angella and now Micah to be free with their sorrow at their mutual loss and longing for one another...

She even knew some stuff about what he and Glimmer had gotten up to alone together, since Glimmer wanted to brag...and while it was all very careful and respectful and loving, it was never _insecure_.

It wasn't his fault. He was used to love being _real_.

Not just, yes, they were actually in love, but love, itself, being a _real thing,_ and that it was possible to feel it and have others feel it about you, and that wanting it was okay, and when your body wanted it you were _allowed_ to, in so many ways—

She felt a little cruel, thinking these things. And lonely, because anything that made her feel separate from Bow and Glimmer broke her heart. But there were just some things you had to go through to really _get_. Some pain you couldn't just hear about but had to be written into your bones.

It's why they didn't understand why Catra had vanished. They never did. They always thought she was just running away from whatever she was upset about, but it was always more than that. She had given it enough thought to know she hoped they would never truly understand Catra, or even Adora herself, because of what they would have to suffer to do so. It was enough, more than enough, _triumphantly_ enough that they all loved each other despite that small gap in understanding.

Or, in Catra's case, a somewhat larger gap in understanding.

It wasn't their fault.

She sighed. They'd saved the universe! Everything was supposed to be easy now.

“It means..I don't really know how to feel about it until I know how Catra feels about it,” she said, feeling a bit silly about how sterile and generic it sounded as she said it. “And I know it's going to get...very intense. But until then it's just not going to go away.”

The three of them sat in unhappy silence for some time, interrupted only by a guard and chamberlain anxiously peeking into the room to see if they were going to leave so he could clear away the mess Adora had made.

“It's not just talking. It's _how_ I talk to her, _when_ ,” Adora whined. “She's so _picky!_ I can't just go find her, she'll just hide until she thinks I won't upset her again.”

“She has to feel safe, is all. That's not that strange,” Glimmer said, although in not a particularly cheery way. “You'd think weeks of peace in Castle Brightmoon would relax anybody, but some people are determined to be crazy.”

A few unkind thoughts passed through Adora's mind, and she let them go.

It wasn't their fault.

Bow huffed a frustrated sigh. “Good luck guessing when she's going to feel safe. I'll snap my bowstrings if I didn't say the only times I've ever seen her really happy or feeling in control were—”

Somehow the memory, the insight, came with a strong rush of pride and joy in a melodious, sinister cackle. A sound that promised violence and havoc, the roar of battle, the joy of—

 _There_ it was.

Adora's hand shot out to shush Bow as he rambled, and she winced. “Oh, ow! Anyways, Bow, shut up. You're a genius. Sorry, sorry. Accidentally.”  
  
“I am? I mean, I am, but I was still at least a sentence or two from a brilliant understanding, so—”

“Yeah, see? Accidentally,” Adora hopped up, smile spreading on her face as she walked away. It was all so _simple_. “Love you both. Gotta go.”

Glimmer hurried to catch up, grabbing Adora's arm anxiously. “Adora! Where are you—are you going to go find her? Do you know where she is?”  
  
“Nope, and sort of. Don't worry about it.” She glanced upwards. “Hey, Melog. Gonna go bring her back, no worries. I got this.”

Glimmer started in place and yelped, letting go of Adora's arm, as Melog leapt down from where they had been skulking in the vaulted rafters of the room. They gave a pleasant-sounding _maooo_ and slunk between Adora's legs before vanishing to wherever once again.

“Thanks, buddy,” she said, taking the opportunity to stop and tap her chin thoughtfully. “Now where...hmm...”

Bow had caught them up. “Wait, don't you know already?”  
  
Adora turned a sly grin on him. “Bow, buddy, keep up. She doesn't want to be found and she doesn't want to just sit down and talk. It's not that hard. Ah! I've got it! Perfect. Ho-kay. See you guys later.”

With that, she strode off with absolute surety. It was nice to feel that from time to time.

“Adora! Where are you going? Adora!” Glimmer shouted, sounding a good 3.5/5 on the Glimmer frustration meter.

“Don't follow me! It's going to get really personal!” Adora called out behind her, beginning to jog.

Glimmer or Bow—someone—called out something vaguely cautious and upset.

“Can't hear you!” Adora cried out—it felt like a song. “Going to go punch my feelings!”

+

Adora had only seen the room once—during that first grand tour, centuries ago, it seemed. It had some weird, elaborate name, but what it essentially was was a huge marble room with a pool full of ankle-deep water, fed from a natural spring that came from deep within the mountain. It was a good twice the size of Adora's ridiculously spacious bedroom, and open on the sides and ceilings to the naked sky. She'd never been in here for very long before and, to her knowledge, neither had anyone else for a very, very long time.

Well, except whoever cleaned it. The place was spotless, from the sheer marble tiling to the columns along the side to the brass inlays around the pool and the capstones of the pillars, the place shone, almost blindingly, under the noontime sun.

It was also notable for being the most remote part of the castle, hidden away where few ever went or looked to see it; even from the Moonstone tower there was only a hint of it behind a wall.

Adora took off her sandals and waded to the center of the pool, where an elaborate inlaid mosaic of the Moonstone gleamed under the thin layer of cool, clean water. The nagging throb in Adora's battle-weary feet and ankles faded, almost as much as they did when she was She-Ra, as if she'd never been hurt or overworked ever in her life.

It was so like Brightmoon to thoughtlessly _have_ something as beautiful as this. Something so calming and gentle and pure, and just...there. No guards, no secrecy, no nothing.

Adora took in a long and happy breath of clean, pure air, scented lightly with flowers.

Oh, how her life had changed...

And with that thought, she took a resting stance, closed her eyes, and waited.

The sun warmed her through the thin fabric of the dress, as the cool water chilled her feet. As she waited, she focused on that—on the heat, the cold, and not the thunder of her heart or the chaotic buzz in her mind, or the ache in the pit of her stomach. The nagging anxiety that this might not be as smart as she thought.

She didn't have to wait too long.

When the attack came, it came fast, and hard, and without warning—a high spinning kick across Adora's back at the shoulders, sending her sliding forward off-balance. Her eyes slammed open and she tried to right herself, but it was too late—Catra was already landing heavily on her back, standing tall and proud as ever.. Adora struggled to maintain her balance, waving her arms stupidly.

Catra laughed, high and clear, full of malicious amusement, and fell into a squat on Adora's shoulders. Her hands gently teased the hair around Adora's ears from behind.

“It only took you a whole interdimensional war to finally learn to choose your own battlefield,” Catra drawled. “I'm almost proud of you. Took me a good two minutes to find a vantage that wouldn't result in a dip.”

“Nice of you to finally show up,” Adora managed, struggling to keep her balance on two feet under her weight. She shifted her legs subtly and pressed upwards, hard, throwing Catra off her shoulders. Catra yowled the with effort not to fall into the water, neatly flipping off one hand to land outside the borders of the pool, slick as axle grease.

Adora took up a brawling stance and firmed her gaze, but deep down she felt a pang of heartache. Catra was still wearing the same clothes as the night she'd vanished, little more than a close-fitting shirt and pants, which were grubby and stained. Her eyes, though lit with dark amusement, were staring out from sunken lids, and her fur was unkempt and fluffed out in places the way it got when she was tired. Her ears couldn't seem to to stay even, either, which usually took some doing. She'd pushed her hair, still regrowing after her Prime time, back behind her ears, but she still looked ragged, unkempt, and hungry.

Wasn't the first time. Wasn't even the tenth. If anything she looked better than usual, since even the dustiest forgotten corner in Brightmoon was less filthy in general than some drainage pipe or forgotten storeroom in the Fright Zone.

Still, Adora couldn't help herself. “Where have you been?”

“I'm sure you'd like to know,” Catra said, grinning toothily. “This place is full of odd corners and easy jumps. And the guards might as well be asleep.”

Adora narrowed her eyes. “I know you've been stealing food.”  
  
“You know it. Old habit. Tastes better.”  
  
“Sleeping somewhere warm?” Adora continued, in a stern voice.

“When I have a moment,” Catra smarmed automatically, before frowning and dropping her raised hands with an exasperated sigh. “Wait, are you just—”

Adora raised an accusatory finger. “Maybe even finding time to talk to Scorpia or Entrapta on a pad you have stashed away somewhere—“

“Oh, _come on_ , Adora, this is not time for you to be all worried and lovesick. We're _fighting_!” Catra lowered herself, priming to pounce. “Try to enjoy yourself.”

“What are you talking about?” Adora said airily. “I'm not fighting.”

Catra's face fell into a look of disappointed disgust. “No?”

“No. I'm getting you to drop your guard,” Adora said through a grin.

With a grunt of effort she swung her rear foot forward, sending a splash of water at Catra, who shrieked in alarm and scrambled out of the way.

“Well look at you, Adora, you're finally learning to fight dirt—ahh!”

Catra was cut off as she ducked to avoid a haymaker aimed right at her chest. Unfortunately for Adora, this put her in the perfect position to swing a flat-armed strike at the back of Adora's legs. Between that and the slippery floor, Adora slipped to one knee, obligating her to use her wounded hand to steady herself. She yelped in pain, and red blotches once again started to form on the cream-colored cloth.

Catra didn't give her a second of peace, wrapping Adora's uninjured arm behind her and using her weight to pin Adora down on her raised knee.  
  
“You're hurt,” Catra said, in a very measured way.

“Now who's being lovesick?” Adora snapped, trying to squirm out of the hold without dislocating her shoulder.

This was rewarded by Catra sniffing dismissively and twisting the arm a bit harder. Adora grunted in pain and rolled her eyes.

“I just don't like an advantage I didn't make for myself,” Catra said, ferocity once again filling her voice.

“As if you can handle me with both hands free. I did this just to make it a fair fight.”  
  
Catra burst into cruel laughter. “Oh, Adora. I have handled you _all_ kinds of ways. You don't get to talk to _me_ like that.”

She very suddenly let go of the pinned arm and pushed Adora forward awkwardly, leaping backwards herself and giggling as Adora scrambled back to her feet, not helped in the least by her now-sodden dress sticking to her awkwardly.

“In fact, just to show I like you, I'll even let you take that ridiculous thing off before we keep going,” Catra sniffed, crouching just outside where Adora could easily splash her as if nothing was going on. “I know you're wearing a top and shorts under it.”  
  
Adora scoffed with exaggerated hurt. “I thought you liked this dress.”

There was an awkward pause.

“Yeah...I mean, yeah. I do. So I don't want anything to happen to it,” Catra said, rather seriously, not quite meeting Adora's eyes. “Sucks for fighting though. Why'd you bring it, anyways? Are you dumb?”

“Awww...”  
  
“Shut up! Just take it off!”  
  
Adora grinned stupidly. “Ha, ha, you want me to take my clothes off.”  
  
Catra roared with embarrassed anger and leapt at Adora, who was only half-way through pulling the sticky-wet dress off over head.

“Oh, wait—Catra, no!”

The two young women collided and tumbled backwards, rolling on the slick ground back into the wading pool. Catra howled in rage, roughly shoving Adora away and leaping out of the pool growling and hissing and thrashing, tail waving madly.

Adora struggled against the soaked dress, finally throwing it off and scrambling to her feet. Catra had turned on her, looking as white-hot furious as she ever had, her short fur hanging off her uncomfortably and her ears drooping pathetically, weighed down with water.

“I. Am going. To Make. You. Pay. For that,” Catra managed, between heavy, livid breaths.

Adora smirked and took up stance again. “You're welcome to try. But in my defense, it was mostly your fault.”

Immediately she realized that was maybe not the best phrasing just now.

Catra's eyes went wild as she howled and charged, ignoring the water now that she was already wet. Adora weaved and ducked around a dozen lighting-fast strikes, then crumpled as Catra took advantage of her being on defense to once again sweep her legs. The marble was too slick to turn the fall into anything else, and Adora landed hard, face-down. Desperately she rolled, only to have to roll even more in utter terror from Catra's shrieking-mad attack from above. She managed to reach dry-er land and get to her feet, keeping Catra in view at all times.

“Come on, Adora, I thought you could take me one-handed,” Catra taunted. “Was that all talk?”

Adora grinned and gave her a theatric shrug. “Hey, if you want to talk—”

“I don't!”

Catra was always quick to pick up a dirty trick, but Adora was still momentarily shocked by her splashing as much water as she could manage right at Adora's face. Before Adora was ready, Catra was already there with two quick jabs to the stomach and a very less-than gentle knee to the solar plexus.

Adora coughed out her breath, crumpling to the floor. Catra stood above her, breathing heavily, fist clenched.

“Come on, Adora, get back up,” she said sullenly. “I've hit you harder than that plenty of times. Get back up and pay me back, huh?”  
  
She extended a hand, looking away with an irritated expression on her face.

Adora took a few breaths to steady herself, reached out and grabbed it—

With no appearance of real effort, Catra pulled all of Adora's weight forward and sent her rolling head-over-heels into the pool again.

“What the hell, Catra!?” Adora barked, rising to her feet awkwardly.

Catra grinned viciously. “What are you gonna do about it?”

Adora took a stance as quickly as she could. Catra's face was wild with predatory excitement as she rushed in again, only for her to be suddenly shocked as Adora made a fist with her wounded hand and drove it forward, hard, catching Catra squarely in a shoulder. The blow threw her off-balance, and she slid and skidded awkwardly forward, only to half-turn as Adora bore down on her. Two punches landed solidly on Catra's exposed back, sending her flat face-down to the deck, water splashing up around her.

“One to me,” Adora said, smugly.

Catra sneered. “I'm still winning.”

She rounded ferociously on the smooth marble, seemingly gliding to her feet while pulling one of Adora's out from underneath her. Adora landed hard, grunting as the air was once again forced out of her.

Catra cackled as Adora gasped for air again. “Come on. You're getting lazy, Princess.”

Adora got to her feet. She was still catching her breath, and her injured hand was screaming bloody murder at her.

She smiled.

This time, she leapt on offense. It was hard; Catra had always been faster and more agile, and she usually _wanted_ to be attacked so that she could deflect or reverse and catch her opponent overextending themselves. But Adora knew that, so she darted in arms raised in front of her face, deflecting a high kick and the desperate slash that followed it. Catra's weakness was being caught, or pressured; she needed room to move, and Adora didn't give it to her. A series of quick, safe jabs followed by a full thrust from the shoulder kept Catra dancing in place avoiding blows that even Scorpia and Huntara had learned to respect.

Catra's desperately dropped and tried to sweep Adora's legs again, but that's exactly what Adora wanted. She caught Catra by the armpit and hauled her off her feet, tossing her back into the pool with a victorious roar.

“Okay, that was pretty good. About time you woke up,” Catra admitted, spitting out a mouthful of water.

“Had enough, Catra?” Adora spat—literally. She'd bitten her lip. Bright red stained the pure water at her feet.

Catra shivered off some water and glared. “You don't get to decide that.”

“That's my girl,” Adora said, making a 'bring it on' gesture.

Catra grinned, and _attacked—_

Time blurred, and flew by. Punch was met with throw. Shoulder check with deflection. Thrust with counter. Body blow with a palm strike to the chest. Dodge with charge. Leap with pursuit. Grab with joint lock.

_Staff strike into a deflection...disruptor thrust dodged and countered...the laughter of children who don't understand they're being trained to destroy..._

_Sword swipe leapt over, claws flashing, fists clashing, muscles burning...Whip snapping, voices raised in passion and fury..._

The splash of the water around their feet. The heat of the sun. The warmth of her body, so strong, so _alive_.

On and on, blow for blow, insult for provocation for joke...

Smile for smile.

The sun moved towards afternoon, then into it. Time marched on, until:

The two fighters stood, both panting, both aching, both bleeding. Honestly, standing was about all they were capable of doing.  
  
Adora wiped her nose with her bandaged hand. “What's the score?”  
  
“Oh, I dunno, twenty all? Thirty?” Catra managed, taking heaving breaths. “Whatever it is, I'm winning.”  
  
“You have _thirty_ bruised ribs?” Adora said, astonished.

“No, points.”

“Wait, how many ribs _do_ people have, anyways?”  
  
Catra shrugged. “I'll tell you tomorrow. I feel like I'm gonna be able to count them.”

They chucked, then regretted it.

As one, they collapsed into the water. Catra didn't even have the energy to complain, although her ears flapped wildly to keep water getting in them. This was mildly annoying to Adora because they had managed to collapse with their heads side-to-side.

It was awhile before either of them spoke. The cool water was quite welcome on their aching bones and weary muscles after all that, but more importantly, they'd just had a good long conversation already and there was no sense spoiling it with idle talk.

“Hey. Adora.”  
  
Adora blinked, and turned to look at Catra, who was staring off at the castle proper. “Hmm?”

“I'm sorry,” Catra said, quietly. “For running away like that.”

“Just Catra being Catra.” Adora forced one of her arms up to scratch the top of Catra's head, but Catra shook her fingers away—after a second, anyway.

“N-no, no, Adora, seriously. I keep saying I want to do better, _be_ better, and I just keep...you know, freaking out.”

“Catra, listen, it's fine—”

“No, it's not. The war is over. I'm supposed to be getting better, doing better. Getting _calm_ , here, so that I can, you know, be...good,” Catra said, a little helplessly. “But it just _keeps. Not. Happening_. I feel like I'm...I dunno, like I'm _failing_. And I keep feeling my mind going to dark places about that, and—”

She clenched a fist, hard, and slammed it on the marble, splashing both of them.

“I don't want to be in dark places anymore,” Catra growled in frustration. “I want to be here. With you.”

_Then stop running! Don't run away from me, please!_

For once, _finally_ , Adora managed to bite the impulsive words back. They would have ruined _everything,_ even though they were true. She wished Catra would just _...stay._

But Catra was Catra, and she was a work in progress, just like Adora.

Instead Adora sighed. “Look, I...I think it's kinda my fault. And of anyone, I should have known better.”  
  
Catra turned to meet Adora's gaze, looking uncomfortable. “What are you talking about?”

Adora rolled her head and looked up again at the crystal-clear sky. Just enough clouds hung in the sky to give it some variety, and they were light and clear and puffy. Above the castle's gleaming spires, the mountains stood tall and proud and beautiful as always, and the trees rustled and shimmered in a gentle breeze...

“I should have known this place would drive you crazy,” Adora said through a chuckle.

“Hey! What's that supposed to mean?”

“No, no, Catra, listen. Listen. Me too.”

Adora rolled again to look at Catra, shivering as the water sloshed and ran down her spine. Frustration and uncertainty burned in Catra's mismatched eyes, and Adora's heart throbbed. All she wanted in that moment was to never see her beautiful cat this scared again.

“I mean, Brightmoon is _so_ wonderful, in so many ways, but...you and I, we're different. It's fun and all, hanging out with everyone but even after all this time, I'm _still_ not used to it here. How soft everything is, how gentle everything is. How things just sort of happen when they happen. Sometimes I have to remind myself I don't have to clear corners or try to sit with the most visible entrances, like a good Horde soldier.”

“And to think I spent all that time jumping out at you from shadows to try to teach you. Ungrateful is what that is.”

“You're the expert.”

Catra made a dismissive _pfffbt_ and waved a hand vaguely, giving Adora a big smug smile.

“My point is,” Adora continued, “Look. I'm not sorry the war is over, but I think we've both got too much fight in us still. And that's just how we are, it's okay. We can't calm down by sitting around and reading scrolls or eating fancy dinners or playing games all the time. We have to _do_ stuff. We have to _fight_. I mean look at this! I was so frustrated earlier that I slammed a table and broke a plate!”

She reached up and gently brushed Catra's face with her wounded hand, and was pleased that Catra leaned into it.

For a moment they just breathed together, worn to bits, as they had done countless times over their lives together.

“I can't need to kick six shades out of you every time I get upset, Adora,” Catra murmured. “I don't want to. Well, I do, but—I don't know. You know what I mean.”  
  
“Yeah, I do. Couple of those felt _real_ personal.”

Catra chuckled bitterly. “Ugh. I'm so messed up.”  
  
“You're working on it. That's what matters. Anyways, it's not about beating me up, it's...wearing each other out. Letting out a breath. You know.”

They smiled together, and somewhere deep in her guts Adora felt the anxiety that things might not work out pass away, as if it was never there. The cat would come back.

That was never certain, in the way back when...

A thought occurred to Adora. “What about...training?”  
  
“Training? Really?” Catra said, unenthused.  
  
“Yeah, sure, why not? Three times a week? _Full contact_ ,” Adora added in a sing-song voice as Catra's expression grew even more glum. “What? I miss the routine.”  
  
“ _I_ miss ignoring the routine and just doing whatever I feel like. Why don't I just ambush you like this when I get bored?”

“Nah, messy,” Adora said. “Brightmoon only has so many plates. And tables.”  
  
“Urns.”  
  
“Statues.”  
  
“Bows.”  
  
Adora peered at Catra suspiciously. “What are you gonna do with him?”  
  
“Throw him at you,” Catra said, smiling slyly.

“Oh. Tactics. Look at you being fancy.”

They caught each other's eye and laughed, both occasionally wincing; and as the laughter died away, the two were left gazing quietly into one another's eyes.

“So...training?” Adora asked, although her mind wasn't super focused on it.

Catra grinned. “Sure...if it always ends like this...”

Adora craned her neck down, as Catra reached up to pull her in—

“WHAT ARE YOU TWO _DOING_ IN HERE?”  
  
Startled, Adora and Catra scrambled until they were sitting upright, and both immediately wished they hadn't—and not just because every muscle screamed at the effort.

Glimmer—no, _Queen_ Glimmer, very obviously lady of this castle, was standing at the far end of the pool, hands at her sides bunched into quivering fists. Behind her, the door squeaked open slowly to reveal Bow sheepishly poking his head in.

“Wha—Glimmer? Oh, hey, Glimmer!” Adora managed. “Uh, why are you mad?”

Glimmer ignored her, looking around more and more frantically at the displaced water and blood staining the pure white marble. As she seethed, Bow slipped inside, seeming very unhappy about doing so and giving Adora a look of mild terror.

“ _DO YOU NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING FROM THE TOUR I GAVE YOU_?!” Glimmer all but howled.

“Uh—”

“This is the Pool of the Three Moons! People are only allowed inside for special ceremonies to harvest water during lunar conjunctions! _Nobody_ has been in here for almost _sixteen years!”_

“You know, it did seem really clean when I got here, now that you mention.”

“ _Uuuuughhhhhhh!_ ”  
  
“If it makes you feel any better, Sparkles, I _do_ remember,” Catra said lazily, “I just didn't care.”  
  
Bow began laughing loudly and awkwardly in a very forced manner. “Ah ha ha ha ha! What a kidder you are, Catra, you card. You're such a character, glad you're on our side now, super super sorry Glimmer is about to kill you—”

Glimmer winked out of being with a terrible growl, appearing in front of the two battered combatants, eyes wide with fury.

“SACRED. CHAMBER,” Glimmer intoned, gesturing furiously. “HOLY. REFLECTING. POOL.”  
  
“Oh...no,” Adora moaned, eyebrows raising slowly.  
  
“Yup,” Catra said. She was smiling the smile of 'I got Adora in trouble, too', which would not be in Adora's top ten favorites if anyone were to ask.

“Oh, you think? HONORED. MOUNTAIN. SACRED. SPRING. MAGIC. WATER.”

Adora looked down, and weakly splashed it around. There wasn't a sparkle or shine or anything. “Magic water?”  
  
 _“Yes!”_ Glimmer shrieked in disbelief, looking like she was about ready to tear her eyeballs out.

Bow cleared his throat. “Herbalists use it as a base to make medicine. It's usually only powerful enough to be worth harvesting when the three full moons all shine on it, but, uh, you two _did_ get pretty wet, so—”

“We were looking for you for _four hours_! Not even _you two_ could fight that hard for that long on your own! Not without beating each other unconscious!”

Catra smirked. “I dunno. We're _really_ good at it.”

“I mean, we did beat each other up pretty badly,” Adora agreed. “That's...I think, my blood over there, and Catra's over here—”

“Oooh, I remember that hit. That was a good one.”

“Oh, thanks! I wasn't sure I'd land it...”  
  
Glimmer threw her hands up in the air helplessly. “Unbelievable.”

Adora looked away sheepishly as Glimmer ranted and raved to Bow about what a big deal this was and how could the two of them be so thoughtless and irresponsible and she had half a mind to drown both of them in the pool and so on and so on.

She'd been _so_ focused on Catra that she hadn't thought—remembered—well the truth was she probably hadn't forgotten so much as never really processed it in the first place. A lot was happening to her in those days and a lot more had happened afterwards.

Honestly though...only Catra could make her this crazy, right?

She sighed. “I really am an idiot.”  
  
Catra weaved her hand into Adora's, and they met gazes again.  
  
“Yeah, but you're working on it,” she said, only slightly sarcastically. “Dummy.”

They kissed. It was nice.

“No! No bonding!” Glimmer shouted, rounding on them again. “No bonding over this! You have violated a sacred site of the Kingdom of Brightmoon—”

Catra pulled away and gave the queen a pleased little smile as she got, slowly, to her feet. To everyone else's surprise, Melog appeared behind her, letting her fingers pass through their mane with a very pleased _mrrroww_ of pleasure.  
  
“How long have they been here?” Adora asked. Melog bumped her shoulder with their head and gave her a happy _maooo_ even as she winced. “Oooh, ow, watch it, bud...”

“Long enough,” Catra said, obviously delighting in being mysterious and vague. Melog wound themselves around her again protectively as Glimmer's hands began to spark and glow in frustration. “They're very good at knowing when I want to make an exit.”

“Hey, did you know they can hide from just one person at a time?” Bow asked, excitedly. Glimmer shot him an acid look which dampened his enthusiasm, a little.

“Who do you think taught them?” Catra said, smug as ever. “Wanna see what else they can do?”

There was a long pause where nothing happened. Still, some instinct told Adora not to move, and she was rewarded.

“Well, we knew they could do _that_ ,” Bow exclaimed, staring right at where Melog and Catra were still standing.

Glimmer smacked her forehead again.

Catra leaned down to Adora's ear, wincing just the tiniest bit, and kissed her cheek.

“Thanks, for this. I—we— _I_ definitely needed it,” she said, sounding strangely uneven. “We can...I...look, whatever. I'll talk to you later.”  
  
“Okay,” Adora whispered, bringing her hand up to the place where Catra's lips had just been.

And Catra was gone.

Glimmer glared at Adora. Adora tried to smile at Glimmer.

“So, uh, my plan worked—”

“ _CLEAN THIS UP_!”

+

Adora was awoken by the feeling of her bunk shifting.

The war was not yet over. In fact, she didn't really know it what the war really was, not yet; and certainly she did not know how large the war she was going to be called to win truly would be. She did not know what the First Ones were, nor had she ever spoken with anyone called anything so ridiculous as Light Hope. She'd never held a sword in anger. And even though her own name had been spoken in the distant past, Adora did not know the name She-Ra.

She was just Adora, and one day she'd be Force Commander Adora, and then—well, then she'd...do the next thing.

And until this moment, she had been sound asleep. It was another time, another place—something to be remembered in a distant land as one, just to pull out any old example, was made to mop up a gigantic mess around a sacred pool.

It had been a hard day—competitions between aspirants for that oh-so-precious badge. Twenty able-bodied young people, which meant in true Horde fashion, there were necessarily nineteen losers. First to the top of the hill wins, no holds barred, any training weapon allowed.

The sting of stun-poles and combat staves and low-powered training disruptors were familiar but today she had forced herself past her limits, endured more, fought harder...

And then she had...she'd...

He was going to do more than eliminate Catra from the competition. He was going to _hurt_ her—he had already hurt her. Badly. He had a reputation for being good with tech, and for cheating. But when the proctors were watching twenty young people battle it out, what time or care did they have to bother wondering if one stun-pole seemed to be humming at a slightly higher frequency?

She could still hear the agony in Catra's voice as she desperately screamed: “ _Adora!”_

Long story short, Adora was fourth up the peak, Catra slung over her shoulders, and _he_ would be requiring major facial reconstruction therapy. He seemed like the type who wanted a cyber-eye, anyways.

Shadow Weaver was livid, of course. Furious beyond belief—

At Catra.

As usual.  
  
For being a “distraction”. For holding Adora back.

Adora would 'have to do better', by which Shadow Weaver meant leave Catra behind.

This was an Adora who had never touched a sword, never heard voices from the distant past, never imagined sleeping in the light of the Moonstone, never called upon the honor of dead heroes called Greyskull, mind, so she is to be forgiven for still believing this:

She would never, _ever_ leave Catra behind. They'd promised.

So when she woke up, and her mattress shifted and bedsprings creaked, she was happy. She always worried when she struggled to find the words to make Shadow Weaver leave Catra alone, and afterwards, make Catra believe that she wasn't in the way and Shadow Weaver was lying and cruel.

“Hey, Catra,” she murmured, groggily, shifting automatically—

There was something...not wrong, exactly, something _different._

Catra had been sneaking into her bed forever. They'd slept sidealong off and on for years, whispering to each other, holding hands, being cold and scared or warm and ambitious. It was nothing new, but—

Well, they weren't nine years old anymore. Among other things, there wasn't as much room.

The covers lifted and raised, suddenly and purposefully. Catra's butt pressed hard into Adora, her tail looping around Adora's thigh and squeezing, as hard as it could _._ A hand—claws extended, shaking, shivering—yanked one of Adora's own, pulling her over Catra's slightly smaller body, wrapping her whole arm over Catra's stomach, cradling her—

Well, _now_ Adora was awake.

“Catra! What are you _doing_?”

“Just...shut up,” Catra hissed, pulling Adora's other arm out from under the thing that Adora did not yet know was a pathetic excuse for a pillow and wrapping it around her waist. Clawed hands held soft human ones hostage. “Don't ruin this for me, Adora, I swear, I will _kill_ you—”

“Ruin what? What's going on?”  
  
“Just, just,” Catra sputtered, then growled wordlessly and pulled Adora's arms tighter around herself. “I need this.”  
  
She was trembling. Not crying, not...scared. Her voice was strange and full of—something.

 _She felt so_ good.

 _She was so hard, all the time, but like this? Wrapped around her? She was so...vulnerable. So exposed. It felt good, it felt_ right _._

 _This is where she_ belonged.

“Catra, I...” Adora murmured, suddenly very unsure.

“Shh. It's okay, Adora, it's okay...I want it too...”

How did she _know_?

Not even _Adora_ knew, not...not even now. This was all so new, but...

It felt...kinda right.  
  
Adora's hands felt both abuzz with energy and numb, eager and lifeless. She couldn't help herself but let one slide to more adequately... _support_ Catra.

The clawed hand didn't resist. The body didn't tense.

Catra _sighed_. It was beautiful.

The other hand dared to gently slide up and down the curve of the hip...

Adora's heart pounded as she felt Catra _melt_.

“Are you...okay?”  
  
She didn't want to ask. The answer might be 'no'.

But she was even less ready for Catra to shift so that she was definitely not just _supporting_ anything, anymore.

“Catra,” Adora hissed. “Catra!”  
  
“Just...keep...holding me...”  
  
Catra was _purring_! She never did that! Well, mostly never and _not like this_. She was vibrating, starting to squirm, starting to...

 _She was so warm. So_ willing _._

Adora was shocked to find her hands moving on their own, guided and encouraged by Catra's. She tried to stop, she really did, she

_didn't want to stop didn't need to_

As if reading her mind, Catra turned, just enough to look into Adora's eyes. She looked hazy, tired...

_Needy_

“I want...I want...”

“Hmmm? What do you want...?” Adora encouraged. _Ask. Ask me._

 _Give me_ permission _._

“ _Adora_ ,” Catra murmured.

The heart, oh, how it hammers. How it flutters. How your own name sounds sweeter when said with naked desire.

“I...tell me...”  
  
“Anything,” Adora whispered.

“Tell me I'm...good...” Catra moaned. “I'm not...not a failure...”

Adora's brow furrowed. That wasn't what she was expecting, but...whatever.

“You're not a failure, Catra. I tell you that all the time.”

She felt Catra arching her back, pressing herself into Adora, putting pressure in _almost_ the right place, and Adora let out a stuttering breath.

“You're...you're so...fast, you're always faster than me. Smarter,” Adora continued. She swore she heard the purring get louder.

“Yes. Please...”

“You're so fierce.”  
  
“Mmm.”  
  
“So...confident.”  
  
Catra writhed in Adora's arms. “Please, more. Tell me I'm okay, tell me I'm—”

A smile spread across Adora's lips. She could work with this.

Adora lowered her mouth to Catra's ear. “You're more than okay. You're _special._ ”

Catra's eyes slammed open and her mouth split into a silly grin.

But for some reason, tears swelled on top of all of it.

Something was wrong.

Adora forced her hands to let go of what they were doing as Catra's body went terribly rigid.

“Tell me—tell me—” she choked, staring off and away at nothing...

“Tell you what?” Adora said, feeling herself begin to panic. “Anything you want, just...talk to me! Catra!”  
  
It is difficult to explain to someone who has never held an angry cat exactly what holding an angry cat feels like. It is very energetic, unstable, angry, and above all _sharp_.

“Ah! Ow, ow, ow! Catra, what did I do?” Adora whined, cradling the hand now bleeding from two deep bite marks.

Catra stumbled as she leapt from the bed, slamming hard into the empty rack across from Adora's. She was breathing hard, eyes wild, teeth bare, claws ready—sweaty and panicky, tail swishing excitedly.

“Nothing. Happened. Tonight.” Catra hissed.

“But—”

“ _Nothing!_ ”  
  
And like that she was gone.  
  
Again.

Adora sat in the bunk and felt...blah.

Not even really disappointed. The pain in her hand was ample reminder that she shouldn't have done _any_ of that. She should have stopped herself, made Catra explain—just letting Catra do whatever Catra wanted was a guarantee for everything to go crazy. She tries to tell Catra she cares, Catra freaks out and runs away, and the Horde's armies marched on.

And honestly, the things she'd felt? The...need? Those things were...unfamiliar. Powerful. That Catra had encouraged them was probably a sign that they weren't exactly the best impulses to follow.

“Nothing happened,” she repeated.

She flopped down in her bed again, hard—and couldn't stop herself from brushing the place Catra had so recently been.

“I'm so stupid...”

The trouble was that she wouldn't really learn to connect the word 'unfulfilled' to her own feelings for a little while yet—this was still an Adora who obeyed, who believed, who did not challenge or hope or expect or let herself _want_ much of anything beyond what was put in front of her. Not consciously.

 _This_ Adora didn't see Catra for three or four days, then there she was, as if nothing had ever happened, all sly smiles and teasing and _not talking about it._ Nor a dozen other things.

Then, a few months later, this Adora touched a sword in the Whispering Woods...

And for a long time, this night was tucked away, just one more confusing memory in a lifetime of them. A war was fought, battles won and lost. The world traveled across the veil. The great truths and realities of the universe shivered.

Now there was time.

+

It took an hour to get the Sacred Standing Pool of...whoever or whatever it was clean to Queen Glimmer's satisfaction, especially since she refused to let Bow help despite him desperately wanting to, and another hour (admittedly, over dinner) to endure the tail end of a well-deserved lecture. Somehow Adora found this easier to take in stride than the caring nudges she'd endured earlier in the morning; she just felt a little more at ease, for some reason. Glimmer was mostly out of steam by the time they were eating anyway, and from that point on, there were other things to talk about.

Good food and good company once again failed to stop early evening passing away into a shimmering twilight. Sensing that Adora was working herself up to finish the rest of her good work, Glimmer dragged Bow away from the dinner table on some super important princess business, privately giving Adora a thumbs-up and a wink as she dragged him away. It was very possible that they might actually accomplish some of it, eventually.

Unlike in the morning, Adora found herself charmed by Bow's blush and her friends' bright laughter as they vanished towards Glimmer's apartments. Love might be easy in Brightmoon, but...wasn't that what they'd fought for, this whole time?

She stood and stepped away from the table, and after profusely apologizing to a very accommodating chamberlain about the plate, retired. It felt like barely any time passed at all, and she was up the stairs, down the corridor, and off a little side passage, hand on the door, _opening_ it—

Adora sighed. She was so, so stupid sometimes; but after three days, it was nice to see. A soul gets to worrying.

“Hey. How's Sparkles?” Catra asked, grinning.

Only Catra could lounge on a rail three inches wide leading to a sixty foot drop.

Adora stepped inside, kicking off her shoes and tossing her still-damp dress off over her head to be tossed, unceremoniously, on a pile elsewhere. “I'd be nice to her for awhile, if I were you.”

“Pshh. She was mostly mad at you, anyways,” Catra said, swinging herself inside with her usual grace.

Adora took the opportunity to give Catra a good once-over. She'd changed clothes, showered—and based on the half-finished meal sitting forgotten on Adora's desk, had probably snuck into the kitchens. Tired, definitely, but...

“You look...good,” Adora said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
“Wow, don't sound so thrilled about it.”  
  
“I mean, I just expected... _some_ bruises...”

Catra shrugged. “Eh, I've always been tough. Plus, magic water—that stuff straight up worked. Can you imagine if we'd had that back in the bad old days? Hordak would have had us pumped full of it.”

Now _there_ was an unpleasant thought. Catra was, after all, not the only work in progress on Etheria.

“I won't tell him if you don't.”

“What about you? You're not limping. Bandage is gone, too, I notice.”

Adora shrugged theatrically. “She-Ra is cheating.”  
  
“She-Ra is cheating,” Catra agreed, sauntering forward to pounce onto Adora's generously large bed. She squatted on the edge, balanced on the balls of her feet, clearly just amusing herself. “Wait, you brought out She-Ra to clean that silly pool? Talk about abusing your power.”  
  
“I had to, or I would have passed out halfway,” Adora admitted. “Just for a second. You should have stuck around, said hi.”

Once upon a time, Catra would have taken the opportunity to laugh and declare victory and make a big deal out of it for no good reason except to be Catra, but...it wasn't once upon a time anymore.

Instead she just chuckled. “Well, I had a nap, so, I suppose we're about even.”

“Where?”  
  
Catra's ears perked up for just a moment.

“Here. Waiting for you,” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I said we could talk, didn't I?”

Adora could tell she was forcing nonchalance for Adora's benefit. While on the one hand it was nice she was trying, on the other it was slightly unsettling. And unnecessary.

She grabbed a chair and dragged it over to the bed. No sense making Catra feel boxed in now that she wasn't trying to land a gut punch. A physical one, anyway. “It's okay. You don't have to pretend to be happy about it.”  
  
“Oh _thank_ you,” Catra said through a heavy sigh, and threw herself backward onto the bed. A pillow flopped up in the air and landed neatly on her face, which she hugged to it fiercely. “I didn't know how long I could keep it up.”

“Been waiting that long? I could have come sooner. You could have sent Melog—”

“Kinda glad you didn't,” Catra growled, muffled slightly by the pillow. “I thought about bailing a couple times. Had to re-talk myself into this, like, six times.”  
  
“Awww, look at you. Good job.”

Catra raised the pillow to glare at Adora for a moment, then replaced it. Her tail thrashed irritably.

Adora reached out and squeezed Catra's leg. “But, seriously...thanks.”

The tail slowed to a nervous swish.

“Do we really have to talk about this?” Catra whined. “Can't you just let it go?”  
  
“Like you obviously haven't?”

Catra sat up, tossing the pillow back into the stack of them that served as the head. “So what if I haven't? It's just one of...of, what, three hundred million terrible things I've done to you. That's on me, I have to carry it. But right now, It's not stopping us from caring about each other and it's _definitely_ not stopping us from having sex, since the last time you brought it up was right after you got done trying to choke me out with your thighs!”

Adora couldn't help but grin. “That was pretty fun, yeah.”

“So just leave it! It's a bad memory for us and...maybe you should just forget about it. I'll give you a few new ones to replace it.”

“Catra, I don't want to just throw things out without—“

“I mean, you get it, right? Why I freaked out, why I ran?” Catra said through her teeth, pleading, desperate. She got up onto her knees to face Adora, eye-to-eye, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. “It was _so_ much, Adora. That day, and...you carrying me, and Shadow Weaver...you were so... _you,_ I don't know what got into me...”

She threw herself back down, stuffed her head in a pillow, and half-groaned, half-growled into it. Her tail went wild, slapping at the bed loudly and thrashing towards Adora's face.

“Oh, uh...” Adora sputtered, not quite sure what to do.

“I was going to ask you to _tell me you loved me_!” Catra shouted, face still buried deep in the fluffy depths. She curled her legs up into her body, sad and pathetic.

This, on the other hand, Adora was ready for, but perhaps not in the way Catra was hoping.

“Catra,” she said, flatly.  
  
“I didn't even care if it was true, I just wanted to hear it. When I realized, it scared me so badly, I didn't want to believe it.”

“Catra!”

“I had to run, I just...I couldn't be around you anymore, I—”

“ _Catra_!”  
  
“ _What_!?”

“I know!” Adora said, sternly.

Catra froze.

The pillow raised a little.  
  
“You...do?”  
  
“Yes,” Adora growled, crossing her arms with a huff. “ _Obviously_ that's what happened.”

A long moment passed as Adora glared at the motionless form of Catra, face shoved into a pillow, legs and tail splayed wildly, in a tableaux of total dignity.

Catra sat up again, crosslegged, hugging the pillow on her lap. She had very obviously not been crying or otherwise terribly upset and instead looked irritated, ears flat and eyes thin.

“I see,” she said.

“Not that difficult,” Adora said, making a 'duh' motion.

Catra watched her coolly for a moment.

“I suppose not.”

“And don't try to say it's because I left, either, we've been over that, too.” Adora inched herself forward on the chair, just a bit, so she was close enough to offer a hand to Catra, who merely watched it warily. “Come on. What really bothers you about that night?”  
  
“Besides you being unable to drop it?” Catra snarled.  
  
“Yup.”  
  
Catra sighed and looked away from Adora silently for awhile.

Outside, the sounds of nighttime were beginning, filling the air with a distant resonance of birds and insects and the latest addition of the occasional shimmering sound of background magic swirling. The heavens glittered with stars, at long last, _free_ stars _,_ at long last...

But Adora had eyes and ears only for her silent, barely moving Catra.

“I can't imagine what you think of me, remembering that night,” she said, eventually. Her voice was heavy with remorse, real this time—not shrieking or desperate, just...sorry. _So_ sorry. “I've been out of control around you a lot, but _that_ night...”

 _What_?

Adora's heart ached. put a hand on Catra's shoulder, making her tense and start, ears perking up in alarm. It wasn't like her to be so lost in thought to not notice being approached.

“Hey, do you...do you think you _hurt_ me?” Adora asked, incredulous.

Catra rounded on her furiously, brushing Adora's arm away. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes. “Of _course_ I hurt you!”

“Well, you _bit_ me, I guess, but—”

“Are you saying—you seriously didn't—you...you...” Catra sputtered, wiping her eyes angrily. “Adora, I all but held you down! It was horrible.”

“And if I was upset about it I would have thrown you into Lonnie's bunk!” Adora insisted. “Catra, we obviously weren't ready, but I don't regret that it happened.”

Catra stared at her, mouth clearly tempted to fall agape. After a moment, her expression grew suspicious and uncertain.

“Are you...really? Seriously? Are we remembering the same thing?”  
  
“Yes! I only regret that it hurt you, or was part of hurting you,” Adora insisted, feeling her heart ache a bit. “And for a long time I wondered what I had done wrong. But obviously a _lot_ of stuff has been making a _lot_ of sense now that we have time to sit and think about it. It was too much, for both of us, back then. But...now we're here. Together. And it can be okay.”

Catra glanced away and back again, face still neutral.

“You _were_ pretty handsy for being made to do it, as I recall,” she said, the barest whisper of hopeful slyness in her voice.

Adora couldn't help but laugh. “Ho, ho...not as much as I wanted to be, believe me. At the time I was like, whoa, hey, Adora, what's going on here?! Pump the brakes! Ha ha. But now, I'm...yeah, I wanted that. Well, more accurately, this, what we have now. Just like you.”

There was a pause. Adora suspected it was a pause for Catra to feel a little warmth in her chest.

“So what did you want to talk about it for, then?” Catra asked, tail flicking in an uncertain sort of way.

“Well for one thing it clearly was still bothering you, so, you know, this is that 'talking through stuff ' thing all the kids are wild about these days,” Adora said, trying to make a joke of it. “But, um...how do I put this...”

Catra said nothing, but she did lean away from Adora slightly.

Adora raised her hands in a preemptive calming gesture. “Okay first of all, everything's great. Bedroom-wise. Love it, love you. Okay?”

“Okay...”  
  
“But, um...how can I put this,” Adora muttered. She probably should have thought this part out better ahead of time, but the one time she tried she got...distracted. “So, all the stuff we do, you know, wrestling, or just rolling around, or being all lovey-dovey—”

Catra's ears flattened and her face went bright red at the hint of the suggestion that she had ever been anything like _lovey-dovey_. “Whatever you're trying to say, _get on with it_.”

“Well, none of it has _felt..._ quite like that night,” Adora finished, lamely.

She sat there in silence, feeling like a moron. There was so _much..._

“Good. That night was terrible,” Catra said flatly. “I like having good, fun, happy sex with you. Do you want me to like it less, for some reason?”

“No! Well, yes. But no, for a moment there, when we were...” Adora trailed off, her certainty that she was on to something fading rapidly under Catra's withering stare. She slumped back in her chair. “Ugh. I'm such an idiot. Maybe it _was_ just me...”  
  
“Just you...what?”

Adora looked back at Catra, who was giving her a cool, neutral look...

...but her tail was twitching again.

“I don't know, Catra, it just felt like you _wanted_ something. Something specific. And I was _giving_ it to you, and...”  
  
“And?”  
  
“And it felt...good. So good,” Adora finished, laughing helplessly because the right words refused to come. “Like you could be vulnerable with me for once. And let me just take care of you. And I could do it, I could...make you happy, I don't know. And you wanted me to make you feel good, and touch you. I liked that feeling, I want to feel it again, fully this time—”

_swish swish_

Somehow that was enough to silence the rush of words spilling out of Adora's mouth.

“I'm vulnerable with you,” Catra said quietly. “I'm doing it right now. And you take care of me all the time. Like today.”

“No, but—”

“Kind of like you did _that_ day. I even got beaten up a little, which always puts me in a weird mood.”

Catra's voice was very, very carefully composed, and she was hugging the pillow in her lap in an almost pointedly casual way.

_What are you going to do about it?_

Only Catra could provoke her like this.

Adora rose from the chair and, watching Catra for any sign of nervousness, sat down beside her. Blue and yellow followed her little trip, cool and unblinking. After a moment, she smiled faintly as one of Catra's arms released the pillow and snaked its fingers between hers. Their eyes locked and they held the gaze, both breathing deep, calming breaths of sweet evening air.

Catra squeezed Adora's hand. “It wasn't just you.”  
  
If there was any proof she was learning, too, it was here. Adora said nothing—just smiled, and held Catra's gaze.

“But it's not something I could have just _asked_ for. That night scares me, it still does,” Catra continued, with an unusually earnest solemnity. “...especially this.”  
  
“I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to make you feel safe enough to talk about it,” Adora whispered. “It was...so much.”

They sat together in silence for awhile longer.

“Tell me what you want, Catra. I promise, it's okay,” Adora said, as firmly as she could manage. Her heart was getting good and tight, and she didn't really know why; she sensed that behind Catra's beautifully mismatched eyes there was a very careful battle going on. “I want to give it to you.”

Catra glanced away for a moment, then back to Adora, shyness looking very odd on her usually sure features.

“Sometimes I just _hurt_. And I need you to love me, like, _really_ intensely. Okay? _Need,_ ” she said, in a voice struggling to keep its balance. “I just need to _let go_ for awhile. But it's...hard for me.”

Adora squeezed the hand. “Okay.”  
  
Suddenly Catra's eyes narrowed and the claws on the intertwined hand bit lightly into the flesh of Adora's. If she hadn't had the presence of mind to control a flinch, Adora would have needed Bow again.

“And I don't want to hear it talked about, referred to, or be given a hard time about it, _ever_ ,” she growled between her teeth. “I'll swallow being teased about... _lovey-dovey_ , but not...this _._ ”

“No, no, never, okay!” Adora said, chuckling helplessly. “Boundaries. Understood. Really!”

The claws retracted and Catra's tail looped loosely around Adora's wrist.

Their eyes met again.

Later, Adora would try to remember how it started, and would struggle to remember who had done what, exactly, or what they'd said or whispered that had made it so easy—but what she did remember was the strange swell of confidence in her chest when she pulled out of that long, complicated kiss and looked down at Catra, straddled beneath her, and saw a lopsided, tentative smile.

Not a smirk. Not a provocative leer.

There was almost a _joy_ in her eyes. A joy at feeling Adora holding her, the release of deciding not to resist.

Adora's heart swelled with...a lot. Some of it more polite than the rest of it.

She could _do_ this.

It wasn't rough. It wasn't supposed to be. But still, Adora reveled in the feeling of Catra just... _accepting_. Even in her loviest, doviest moments, Catra still snickered and teased and, while affectionate, was still _challenging_ Adora, always: _Kiss me again_. _Revel in this. Make me_ want _to let you do that..._

This was different. Especially once the kisses got dumb and lazy and needy as the mood went from “is this happening?” to “oh, this is happening”.

Catra was just...quiet.

It was weird, but...good weird. It started out as just a firm but gentle session of necking but Adora could tell, Catra was trying. Trying so hard to...let go.

Let go of the pain. The anxiety. The fear...

“Just accept it,” Adora heard herself whisper, as she pinned Catra's arm down gently, but firmly. “You're safe. Relax...”

Catra was breathing—panting, really—and gazing out at the world through half-lidded eyes, not even really seeming interested in anything in particular. She just grinned lazily and leaned into Adora's kisses down her neck and along her collarbone, whining happily as one of Adora's hands gripped hers like a vise.  
  
Adora felt so... _big_. It was crazy, she wasn't _that_ much bigger than Catra, maybe a few inches and some muscle bulk, but this was like when she was She-Ra, _towering_ over her on the bed. She had to glance at her arm to make sure something dumb hadn't happened, but no.

Maybe it was just that Catra's personality took up so much space, but...

Oh wasn't she just this fragile little thing, under all that bluster.

And it was all _hers_.

Kissing her, smelling her, nipping at her, it was so _different_ to be rewarded with hitches of breath and whiny sighs instead of laughter and snark. No gentle scratches, no reversal throws, no gleaming, hungry smiles, just...

Submission.

“I missed you,” Adora rumbled into Catra's ear.

Catra squirmed beneath her. “Me, too...”

“I missed _this.”  
  
This _was very clearly the correct thing to say. Catra leaned into the fierce kiss and wrapped her free arm around Adora's back desperately.

After a long while they parted, touching foreheads.

“I wanted to come back,” Catra moaned. “I promise.”  
  
“I know.”  
  
“I wasn't going to leave.”  
  
“I never thought you were. It's okay.”

Catra shuddered, face split in a grin of relief. It was wonderful.  
  
Adora pulled back, yanked out her hair tie with her free hand, and tossed it away, her hair cascading down around her head. Catra stared up at her in wonder, as if she'd never seen her do that before.

She was so...

Adora's heart pounded—not out of fear, out of...want.

Need.

Need for this wonderful creature. Need to keep feeling this, this...power, this control, this surety and clarity.

Need to reclaim what she so desperately desired.

The need to _fix_ it...

She let go of Catra's hand and sat up on her heels. The little whine of distress just spurred her on.

“Come on, roll over. Make room,” Adora said, voice husky and uncompromising, but not unkind. She tugged on the light covers, forcing Catra to wiggle to let them free. “It's not the first time.”

An uncertain frown momentarily tainted Catra's placid expression, but she did as she was bid.

Adora swooped the covers around her shoulders and descended, curling around Catra until she was, once again, spooned around her tightly. She snaked an arm underneath Catra, wrapping it around her, now unashamedly cupping one of the firm, perky breasts hidden under the thin fabric of Catra's shirt. The other slid down the curve of Catra's waist, fingertips of her middle and ring fingers teasing the slope until she laid her hand flat on Catra's hip.

Joyously, she buried her mouth and nose in the crook of Catra's shoulder and took in a deep breath. The barest hints of soap lingered in her fine, sleek fur.

Amazing. Perfect.

 _Hers_.

...right?

The spell was broken, just a little, as she realized Catra had stopped moving.

Adora's heart sunk. She tried to rise, desperate to get a look at Catra's face.  
  
“Too much?”

As if to answer, Catra's tail looped around Adora's thigh as she pressed back into Adora desperately.

Her hands laid on top of Adora's, so gently. So tentatively. They were trembling with need.

“Not enough,” Catra croaked, happily.

_YES_

Adora gripped, ever so slightly, and Catra whined in delight, rubbing her head back against Adora's lovingly.

“It hurts, Adora,” Catra moaned, breathlessly. “My heart hurts. Make it stop. Please...”

“Anything. Anything for my good girl.”

“Ah...!”  
  
Catra's hands guided her where they were meant to be. Holding her waist, crushing her into Adora as Catra wiggled and writhed. The thumb of the hand cupping one of Catra's petite breasts teased her firm nipple with flicks and massages of gentle pressure.

“You are so beautiful,” Adora growled. “Touching you is so _good_...”  
  
“More...”  
  
“I can't tell you how much I want this. How I've thought about it for hours.”

“Really?”  
  
“I _love_ fighting you,” Adora continued, smiling hungrily as Catra's breaths began to grow shallow and heaving. “You're so fast. So ferocious. So _wild_. There's no one like you. I love it. I love just _watching_ you.”  
  
“Oh, yes,” Catra hissed. “More, please, more!”  
  
She didn't just mean more praise, either. Adora thrilled as Catra desperately grabbed her hand and pulled it under her shirt so Adora could revel in the sensation of the smooth swell of Catra's chest, feel the warmth, sense the hammering of her needy, desirous heart. The purring had come, loud and honest and demanding. It seemed to vibrate across Catra's whole body, a steady, breath-like rumbling of pure delight.

And the other...

Adora grinned wickedly.

Oh, no. Not yet. It was hard to resist the impulses in her own hand, never mind Catra trying to guide her _deeper,_ but...

Catra whined. “Please. Adora, please, I want it. I need it. I need _you_.”

“Just relax,” Adora said through a smile.

“No, Adora, no, please, I want to—”

“Shhh...just relax, Catra. I've got you.”

It was unbelievable.

As if entranced, Catra obediently quieted down, settling gently into Adora's firm embrace as if it were as natural as a moonsrise and not a complete reversal of her usual self. Aside from lovingly rubbing her head into Adora's shoulder Catra was still and relaxed.

The roar in Adora's chest would have been deafening if it were a real sound.

Amazing.

Beautiful.

 _Mine_.

 _My cat_. My _Catra_.

She took her hand from Catra's hip and, freeing it from the cover, began stroking Catra's head.

This was the ultimate test. The ultimate no-go zone in bed unless given _explicit_ permission, and usually that was only given in the afterglow of being particularly energetic. And even then, only for a moment.

But Adora wanted it. She was _taking_ it.

Catra began to purr louder.

“Good...good girl. I know you like that.”

There was a moment which, Adora suspected, involved the swallowing of some pride, even in this state.

“Yes,” Catra whispered.

Well look at that.

Adora scritched behind Catra's ears. That was a _super_ no-go.

Catra tensed. Adora kept stroking.

“Do you want me to stop...?”

There was a long pause. The only sound was the susurrus of early evening.

...and Catra purring contentedly.

“That's what I thought.”

Despite the external calm Adora could sense the roiling feelings in both of them. Catra, needy, wanting, almost desperate—and in herself, an almost delirious delight in just...having her. Holding her. Not needing to hold back, able to finally just pour all of her love into Catra without needing to jump through hoops...

Each stroke through her hair made Catra shift, just a little, press back, make tiny shows of how badly she wanted to do more, where normally when she was this wound up she would _pounce—_

Adora's smile settled down from delighted teasing to pure affection.

“You're doing so good,” she whispered.

Catra took a long, slow, shaky breath in response. Adora could almost hear the lazy, sexual grin that was undoubtedly spread on her face.

“Not just here,” Adora continued. “I know you're trying so hard. I know it's scary...”  
  
“I just,” Catra managed, breath catching in her throat. “I just want to...be good enough...”  
  
“Shh. You're already good enough. You're _Catra_. You're amazing.”

“Mmm...”

Somehow Adora could tell this wasn't sinking in. She took Catra's exposed ear gently in her hand and ran her thumb across the velvety surface.

 _SUPER_ no-go.

Catra shuddered, running from the nape of her neck down to the very tip of her tail, still wrapped gently around Adora's leg.

“Don't fight me. Not now. Trust me. Believe me...”

Adora glanced down. Catra's top leg was teasing at Adora's, trying to pull it forward between her own. It was so awkward and thoughtless that Adora had to guess it was totally unconscious, a body craving that contact, and the blessed release. Anything.

She smiled. She was going to pay for this level of teasing as it was, and truth be told, she was more than eager herself...

“That you're even trying means so much to me,” she whispered, barely louder than Catra's panting whines. “You're so brave. You keep bouncing back. You're so _strong._..”  
  
Running her fingers down Catra's shoulder summoned another shudder of delight, and as she went lower, she heard Catra's breaths come faster and shallower with desperation.

Adora looped her thumb under Catra's shirt and pulled it up so it exposed her chest, and took the opportunity to cup both of Catra's breasts and massage them firmly, but gently. Even in the low light they were beautiful to see, standing proud from her lithe body, begging for attention.

Adora was all too happy to give it. She loved every inch of Catra, but there was a special place in her heart for those perky little curves.  
  
“Yes,” Catra hissed. “Yes, more—”

“I'm so proud of you.”  
  
“Anh! Oh...”  
  
Adora kissed Catra's neck as she let her hand fall away and start to slide down Catra's belly. “You feel so _good_.”

“Touch me more...more, I need it...”

She was spreading her legs, very slightly, still trying to get something, _anything_ to touch the ache deep down.

“Here?” Adora asked, teasing the edge of Catra's shorts.  
  
“Yes! Yes! _Please_ , Adora—”

“Good girls get rewards,” Adora hummed.

Catra's sigh of need came out like a shriek. _Finally_ , it seemed to say, _finally, all I've ever needed_.

She was _drenched_.

“Oh, wow, you _are_ ready, aren't you.”  
  
“Yes...for you...yes...”Catra moaned. “Just...please...I wanna...”

Adora teased her fingers through the usually-soft fur above Catra's sex, which was slick and matted with sticky fluid. She was _never_ like this.  
  
“Why I...don't like you...scratching my head...”

“Oh, is _that_ so...?”

“Feels weird...please...more...”

Adora's hand slipped lower, and she sighed with happiness as her fingertips gently slid across the precious warmth of Catra's vulva. In her mind's eye she could see those beautiful, dark lips all sodden with Catra's want, and thrilled to imagine them spreading for her, _wanting_ her.

And at the top, hidden away until these precious moments together...

She genty teased the slick surface of Catra's lips and kissed her neck. “More?”

Catra whined, and pressed her hips forward. “ _More.”_

Adora would have sworn, if she were in any mind to do so, that she didn't press her middle finger in so much as Catra's passage beckoned it.

“Ah! Aaah...aannnhhh...” Catra sighed, delight dancing on every wordless gasp.

It was _incredible_. It was always lovely, but to have Catra so enraptured made the wet warmth so much more inviting.  
  
“You're so beautiful,” Adora repeated. “Everything. Your whole body...”

“You...it feels...”  
  
“More?”  
  
“More!”  
  
Adora withdrew the finger and, feeling Catra watching her hand totally enraptured, sunk it into her mouth. The taste of Catra overwhelmed her, made her shudder—another thing she could never put words around but just _craved_ about Catra's sexuality. It was as powerful and overwhelming and satisfying as the woman herself. And heavens above if she wasn't half drinking straight from the river tonight...

She withdrew the finger, humming in satisfaction. Catra trembled in her arms.

“Did you want some? I'm sorry,” Adora heard herself say. “Show me your tongue...”  
  
The feeling of Catra greedily lapping at her fingers sent another shiver through Adora. She had a bad feeling she was going to pay for this later, too, but it was _so_ worth it. She knew from personal experience how strong and slick and clever that tongue could be, put in the right place, but _this..._

“Oh, now you get a reward,” she murmured. It came from deep in her chest, somewhere red and raw and powerful and animal. It felt _good_.

“Yess...”  
  
One finger, then another found their way deep into Catra, who groaned rapturously at finally, _finally_ getting the touch and relief she so desperately craved. Wet, busy sounds filled Adora's ears as she thrust and massaged and pressed deep into her whining, moaning puddle of a girlfriend, the hand caressing Catra's breast growing more and more firm as they descended into to final crescendo of the sex. Catra's powerful hips writhed against the heel of Adora's hand, grinding her clitoris into the smooth skin desperately as her body sought that perfect oblivion.

Adora could barely think straight. The sounds, the smells, the _feeling_ of Catra overwhelmed her—

_Tell me I'm not a failure_

“You're so strong. You've endured so much,” Adora said. “You've become something so beautiful, and you're still growing...”

Catra moaned lewdly as she thrust harder, delighting in the praise.

_Tell me I'm okay_

“You're doing more than okay, Catra.”

“AaaaaAHH! Adora, _Adora—_ ”

“You're special.”

“Yes!”  
  
“You're _mine_!”

“YES!”

_Tell me...tell me..._

“I love you,” Adora whispered.

Catra's powerful belly clenched hard. Adora automatically held her hand still and let Catra finish herself.

Words—not even, just _sounds_ died in Catra's throat as her back arched hugely. Adora hugged her loosely as she began to quiver and shake, radiating outward from her sex. Her legs kicked lamely as a chill ran up her spine and her arms clenched to her body fiercely.

Adora let her go. Catra collapsed facedown, letting out an ugly _“guh_ ” as she managed to breathe again.

It was a moment before either of them moved again. Adora lay still, heart pounding and breaths coming hard and fast. It wasn't like _she_ was the one who'd just humped herself crazy, what the heck?  
  
The roaring in her chest quietly subsided, too, as she watched Catra slowly recover. It seemed satisfied with the result, and while Adora herself would want some attention at some point in the not-to-distant...looking at Catra, breathing hard and mostly liquefied, she was too.

Crazy. Sex was weird.

After a long minute Catra sat up, still panting. She pulled off her shirt and pants, both far too wet to be comfortable in, and then collapsed again.

Adora couldn't help but laugh.

“That had better not be about anything that just happened,” Catra growled, but not too seriously.

Well, if she was worried she wasn't going to get her Catra back, that fear could be put to rest.

“No! No, of course not.” Adora scooched over so that they were shoulder-to-shoulder. “That part is just usually more towards the beginning.”

“Heh,” Catra managed, but that was all.

Their hands gently wove together.

“Hey. How are you feeling?” Adora asked, turning to look at Catra.  
  
Catra stared at the ceiling for awhile, then sighed.  
  
“Okay.”  
  
“Just...okay?”

“Yeah. It was good, _really_ good. But...you know. Emotions.”

Adora didn't really know how to feel about that.

“Wanna talk about it?”  
  
“N—” Catra began, harshly, then stopped herself. She _was_ trying. “Not...not right now.”

“Okay.”  
  
Catra rolled over to face her and gave her an awkward smile and a gentle punch in the ribs. “You gotta stop trying to have these really serious emotional talks with me right after sex. You just made me cum so hard I think I bruised a rib. I want to just enjoy it.”

Adora groaned. “Ugh, I really do, don't I? Sorry.”  
  
“Charging in headfirst without a plan,” Catra said, smirking. “That's my girl.”  
  
“Hey, I had a whole plan today! And you know what, I think it worked out pretty great. You of all people don't get to say I didn't have a plan.”

“A lot of that plan was beating each other up.”  
  
“Yeah! Good plan.”

Catra laughed brightly. “You're such an idiot.”

They kissed. It was nice.

They were together again, and one more painful, confusing memory was on its way to being resolved between them. It was not the first; it would not be the last. Not all of them were quite as fun to deal with, but dealt with they would be nevertheless.

“I love you,” Catra said.

Adora smiled and squeezed her hand. “I love you, too.”

More happened after that. It was early evening, after all, and they had plenty of time. But that's another story entirely.

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, you are forced to submit to lengthy exposition on emotional development before I deliver the delicious, smutty goodness. Or you can just bite down to the center of the tootsie pop, but then you mist the context! I worked really hard on it, be nice.
> 
> Happy pride, everyone.


End file.
